Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics:

SENATE HOLDS FIRST HEARING ON DREAM ACT: Advocates of White House-endorsed immigration reform legislation called the “DREAM Act” may still be scrambling for support in Congress. But on Tuesday, backers of the measure scored a small victory.

A renewed push for the passage of this decade-old proposal, which would provide a conditional path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as minors, led to the first ever Senate hearing on the bill.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano attended the hearing to show their support for the act.

Immigration activists on both sides of the issue have lobbied Congress and several government agencies, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, in recent years. (It’s impossible to know how much money was specifically spent lobbying on the DREAM Act, since organizations are not by law required to attach a dollar figure to a specific lobbying campaign.)

But during the first quarter of 2011 alone, 216 separate corporations, unions or special interest groups lobbied on immigration-related bills, including the DREAM Act — notable, since 329 entities lobbied on immigration issues in all of 2010.

Lobbying data for the second quarter, which is expected to be released in mid-July, will provide an even better picture of the recent efforts made by groups focused on immigration reform.

Despite their efforts, the Dream Act narrowly failed to pass the Senate in late 2010. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reintroduced the bill in May, and the White House is working with Democrats in Congress to garner support for the legislation this time around.

OBAMA TARGETS BUNDLERS: About 560 “bundlers” steered at least $76.5 million toward President Barack Obama‘s campaign during the 2008 election cycle, and it’s those elite donors that the Obama campaign is targeting once again.

Bundlers are major donors who, after reaching personal contribution limits, turn to friends and family members to give to a candidate, and then deliver the checks in one big “bundle.” The extent of the effect these bundlers can have is difficult to determine because their exact contribution totals are usually not disclosed. Obama and John McCain voluntarily disclosed their bundlers during the 2008 election cycle, but used broad ranges instead of exact dollar figured to show how much money they had bundled.

The Obama campaign is using significant resources, including meetings with top cabinet officials and food tastings with the White House chef, to woo bundlers, the Washington Postreported.

The president’s re-election campaign is rallying last-minute support before it is required to close its second-quarter fund-raising books on June 30. The campaign has set a goal of raising $60 million, including the funds raised by the Democratic National Committee, during the three-month period. Federal candidates must file disclosures of their second-quarter fund-raising by July 15.

LOBBYISTS TOOK PAY CUTS TO WORK ON THE HILL: Some lobbyists who made the move from K Street to Capitol Hill clearly did not take on their new jobs for the money.

Lobbyists who now work in the House earned, on average, more than $238,000 per year in the influence industry. Those same lobbyists are now expected to make about $144,000 per year, on average, as congressional aides, The Hill reported. And lobbyists who went to work in the Senate were earning more than $309,000, on average, in their previous jobs. They will now make more than $160,000.

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